bank1

/bæŋk/

noun

1.

an institution offering certain financial services, such as the safekeeping of money, conversion of domestic into and from foreign currencies, lending of money at interest, and acceptance of bills of exchange

2.

the building used by such an institution

3.

a small container used at home for keeping money

4.

the funds held by a gaming house or a banker or dealer in some gambling games

5.

(in various games)

the stock, as of money, pieces, tokens, etc, on which players may draw

the player holding this stock

6.

any supply, store, or reserve, for future use: a data bank, a blood bank

C15: probably from Italian banca bench, moneychanger's table, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German bancbench

bank2

/bæŋk/

noun

1.

a long raised mass, esp of earth; mound; ridge

2.

a slope, as of a hill

3.

the sloping side of any hollow in the ground, esp when bordering a river: the left bank of a river is on a spectator's left looking downstream

4.

an elevated section, rising to near the surface, of the bed of a sea, lake, or river

(in combination): sandbank, mudbank

5.

the area around the mouth of the shaft of a mine

the face of a body of ore

6.

the lateral inclination of an aircraft about its longitudinal axis during a turn

7.

Also called banking, camber, cant, superelevation. a bend on a road or on a railway, athletics, cycling, or other track having the outside built higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force on vehicles, runners, etc, rounding it at speed and in some cases to facilitate drainage

8.

the cushion of a billiard table

verb

9.

when tr, often foll by up. to form into a bank or mound

10.

(transitive) to border or enclose (a road, etc) with a bank

11.

(transitive) sometimes foll by up. to cover (a fire) with ashes, fresh fuel, etc, so that it will burn slowly

12.

to cause (an aircraft) to tip laterally about its longitudinal axis or (of an aircraft) to tip in this way, esp while turning

bank

n.

"financial institution," late 15c., from either Old Italian banca or Middle French banque (itself from the Italian word), both meaning "table" (the notion is of the moneylender's exchange table), from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German bank "bench"); see bank (n.2).

Bank holiday is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. To cry all the way to the bank was coined 1956 by flamboyant pianist Liberace, after a Madison Square Garden concert that was packed with patrons but panned by critics.

"earthen incline, edge of a river," c.1200, probably in Old English but not attested in surviving documents, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse banki, Old Danish banke "sandbank," from Proto-Germanic *bangkon "slope," cognate with *bankiz "shelf" (see bench (n.)).

v.

"to act as a banker," 1727, from bank (n.1). As "to deposit in a bank" from 1833. Figurative sense of "to rely on" (i.e. "to put money on") is from 1884, U.S. colloquial. Meaning "to ascend," as of an incline, is from 1892. In aeronautics, from 1911. Related: Banked; banking.